Well, this article was very handy...as I'm a single mom, college educated with 3 teenage boys and for the first time in 14 years, had water and mud come in at the front of the finished basement, (front of the house/front door is above this area). then a major power surge to my house led to even worse problems (blew out the circuit board, air/heat control board, garage door openers, TV's...etc etc..) and maybe even afffected the sump pump during the night as this happened after the hurricane a few days later in a different storm that brought 13 inches of rain total between the two storms and rainy August.

A company called Value Dry is pressuring with a 10K fix to put pipes interior around the inside perimeter and put another sump in. I feel my property in one area on side of house has been severely wet for 2 years...so I wonder if getting water away from my house in general with downspouts and maybe even having someone dig a french drain and carry water off my property and regrade a bit around the front is best bet. I'm already feeling compromised by the power surge and all the appliances that may still be damaged that I don't know about. I feel my next move should be to hire a good local home inspector? What do you think? Thanks!

Money Pit Answer

A:

Any time a company pressures you in to doing anything-- walk away! Especially, when that pressure comes from waterproofers who are notorious for dishing out bad advice designed only to line their own pockets. Getting an opinion from a good home inspector is a wise move -- but I can tell you that most of the time, the simple drainage improvements shown in this article will address the problem.

Answers

That is an excellent idea! A certified home inspector will give you unbiased advice because he or she won't stand to gain a thing by what they find. Visit www.ashi.org to find a certified inspector in your area. Once you determine what exactly is going on, you can take next steps.